There's a story told in meditation circles used to illustrate how meditation helps us deal with a very human emotion; anger.
The story, I like to describe as, 'ducks don't do anger,' tells how two ducks fighting over a piece of bread, after a short bit of angry nipping at each other, are able to just swim away, and unlike their human observers aren't holding a grudge, feeling resentment or feeding their anger.
Anger is part of being human and it's hardwired into our reptilian brain, it comes from our ego state, that part of us that needs us to feel secure and safe.
In order to deal with anger we must find the underlying cause.
Anger can rise out of fear, pain, sorrow; anger can be a cry for attention or help, it may be an expression of grief, loneliness or a desire for love.
In the end we have to own our anger, and more importantly the root cause of the anger.
In order to own it, we need to acknowledge it and not try to repress it.
The questions arise, can meditation help us embrace this shadow side of our humanness and if so how? Meditation is a practice of awareness and when we sit in meditation we start to become present with those parts of who we are, even those parts which we've repressed, hidden from, the darker side of our nature.
Unpleasant as unearthing these thoughts, feeling and emotions are, as long as we continue to repress them, the more they will rise up and make themselves known.
Meditation opens a doorway, allowing us to see what the real emotions are hiding behind it.
Meditation invites us in to witness the anger, and in the process of witnessing anger, begin to evaporate it.
Ram Dass describes this process as 'making friends with anger,' a place from which he no longer identifies with it, he said it this way, "I still see anger arise, even after thirty years of meditating.
But now, when it does, I can say, 'Hello old friend' and invite in for a cup of tea.
" He went on to say, "Meditation has helped to overcome the more negative places, like anger, because it gives me the chance to bring together my identification with my awareness.
" Anger unchecked can do untold damage both on an individual level and on the wider level of our collective consciousness.
When anger is repressed it can transform into hatred, a transformation that occurs when we feel we've been especially wronged.
It's natural to feel greater justification for this kind of anger, as well as, in situations where we perceive injustice.
And in situations where find gross inhumanity, it becomes possible to transform angry passion into acts of compassion.
This, however, can be a slippery slope, because justification can, also, become rational, and rational can be used to justify irrational acts.
It's this level of anger that creates enemies and is ultimately the rational for violence.
So, how do we move from anger and hatred of our enemies, to a place, if not of love, at least of tolerance? According to Deepak Chopra, "...
when someone commits a horrendous offense against you, which would seem to justify seeking revenge, you are doing harm to yourself by harboring built-up anger.
This insight, which is hard for many people -- and nations -- to arrive at, is key.
" In order to avoid the pitfall of justification you must first develop self-awareness.
Meditation is the tool for developing just such a sense of self-realization.
In meditation, because we develop a greater sense of self-awareness, we have the opportunity to see anger as it is, with all its recurring patterns of thought and its waves of shadow energy, and make 'friends with it.
' It is from this quiet space of self-reflection that we can begin to accept ourselves for who we are.
Meditation is not a panacea; will we will be instantly be transformed into beings of light and love because we've practiced sitting on the cushion? No.
Meditation's benefit is that it allows us to be honest and accepting of ourselves as we are and it's that awareness which carries with it the power of real transformation.
The story, I like to describe as, 'ducks don't do anger,' tells how two ducks fighting over a piece of bread, after a short bit of angry nipping at each other, are able to just swim away, and unlike their human observers aren't holding a grudge, feeling resentment or feeding their anger.
Anger is part of being human and it's hardwired into our reptilian brain, it comes from our ego state, that part of us that needs us to feel secure and safe.
In order to deal with anger we must find the underlying cause.
Anger can rise out of fear, pain, sorrow; anger can be a cry for attention or help, it may be an expression of grief, loneliness or a desire for love.
In the end we have to own our anger, and more importantly the root cause of the anger.
In order to own it, we need to acknowledge it and not try to repress it.
The questions arise, can meditation help us embrace this shadow side of our humanness and if so how? Meditation is a practice of awareness and when we sit in meditation we start to become present with those parts of who we are, even those parts which we've repressed, hidden from, the darker side of our nature.
Unpleasant as unearthing these thoughts, feeling and emotions are, as long as we continue to repress them, the more they will rise up and make themselves known.
Meditation opens a doorway, allowing us to see what the real emotions are hiding behind it.
Meditation invites us in to witness the anger, and in the process of witnessing anger, begin to evaporate it.
Ram Dass describes this process as 'making friends with anger,' a place from which he no longer identifies with it, he said it this way, "I still see anger arise, even after thirty years of meditating.
But now, when it does, I can say, 'Hello old friend' and invite in for a cup of tea.
" He went on to say, "Meditation has helped to overcome the more negative places, like anger, because it gives me the chance to bring together my identification with my awareness.
" Anger unchecked can do untold damage both on an individual level and on the wider level of our collective consciousness.
When anger is repressed it can transform into hatred, a transformation that occurs when we feel we've been especially wronged.
It's natural to feel greater justification for this kind of anger, as well as, in situations where we perceive injustice.
And in situations where find gross inhumanity, it becomes possible to transform angry passion into acts of compassion.
This, however, can be a slippery slope, because justification can, also, become rational, and rational can be used to justify irrational acts.
It's this level of anger that creates enemies and is ultimately the rational for violence.
So, how do we move from anger and hatred of our enemies, to a place, if not of love, at least of tolerance? According to Deepak Chopra, "...
when someone commits a horrendous offense against you, which would seem to justify seeking revenge, you are doing harm to yourself by harboring built-up anger.
This insight, which is hard for many people -- and nations -- to arrive at, is key.
" In order to avoid the pitfall of justification you must first develop self-awareness.
Meditation is the tool for developing just such a sense of self-realization.
In meditation, because we develop a greater sense of self-awareness, we have the opportunity to see anger as it is, with all its recurring patterns of thought and its waves of shadow energy, and make 'friends with it.
' It is from this quiet space of self-reflection that we can begin to accept ourselves for who we are.
Meditation is not a panacea; will we will be instantly be transformed into beings of light and love because we've practiced sitting on the cushion? No.
Meditation's benefit is that it allows us to be honest and accepting of ourselves as we are and it's that awareness which carries with it the power of real transformation.